


Mirage of the Heart

by Debz_Baumaus



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst and Feels, Demonic Possession, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fantasy, Half-Human, Inspired by InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Kitsune Kitagawa Yusuke, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mother-Son Relationship, Priestesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debz_Baumaus/pseuds/Debz_Baumaus
Summary: Monk Kurusu reminisces about his past and found family when hearing his newest companion's personal tragedy: the hanyou Kitsune, Yusuke Kitagawa, had his precious pearl and life stolen from him.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Kitagawa Yusuke, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

"I wanted- _needed_ to know where Madarame hid my mother's self-portrait. I needed to see her. What else did I have in life if not the comfort of her smile?"

The hanyou sighed with melancholy. Monk Kurusu understood to a degree. He had been betrayed by his parents, offered to the monstrous beasts that had lurked into their village one night. Not wanting to spare hands for labor, they chose him, the youngest one, as a sacrifice for the monsters. Lucky for him, a monk had appeared to take care of the invaders.

Akira had decided to follow him secretly, not wanting to stay with people who would so readily have him die for the good of the rest. And monks, they were supposed to be good people, right?

The man pretended he didn't detect Akira's presence and either drank and smoked the nights away or exorcised demons and evil spirits, just wandering around all by his lonesome. 

Akira struggled to copy him in order to feed himself and survive without disturbing the man, but was doing a poor job at it. He was only seven.

A long-winded, heavy sigh escaped the monk before calling out, "Come here, boy. You're driving me crazy with your stalking. If you want something, say it. Otherwise, leave me alone."  
"I want you to train me!" He yells, coming out of the forests' shadows. The monk scoffs at him, "What makes you think you can be a monk?"

"I can see spirits! I've had a nekomata following me for years!" The man looks at him suspiciously through narrowed eyes. "You know those could kill you, right?" He shakes his head furiously, "Morgana is good!" The monk sighs deeply again.

"Come. Eat this." He offers some roasted mushrooms and rabbit meat, and Akira gobbles it up desperately. "So, what's your name, kid?"

"Akira Kurusu." The man hums pensively.  
"I'm Sojirou Sakura. If you follow me, you'll be living a life of danger. You won't be able to stay at home and relax safely with my daughter. We will wander the land getting rid of evil. Do you understand?"

Could they get rid of the evil in Akira's parents' hearts?

"Yes, Sojirou-sama!"

"How could you let Madarame use you like that? You're not even of the same blood. You're not family." Yusuke smiles sadly, "But he is a full-fledged Kitsune. And anything I learned from him could bring me closer to the truth behind my mother's life...and death."

 _That could have been me_ , Akira thought, _if I had stay with my parents. Neglected and abused. Unloved._

Monk Kurusu slowly lets one hand drift to rest on one of Yusuke's. "You're not alone anymore." Yusuke smiles more genuinely now. "Thanks."

"But, I'm confused. Madarame taught you how to make your own pearl and stole it, then sealed you in your house, and abandoned you there for decades. But what about the artwork he forced you to make for him? Surely he would need to free you to get more." 

Yusuke shrugged, "Other pupils, perhaps."

"How can we find your pearl? Isn't it corrupted already?"

"I can purify it. The pearls can heal when in the hands of their creators. And I can feel its energy, when it is close enough."

Monk Kurusu nods, "Well, I hope we're getting close." 

Yusuke rests his head on his hands, effectively removing Akira's. "All creatures have their domains. Kitsunes have specific areas they reside in. Even a demon as powerful as Madarame is bound by these rules. If he went into the realm of other monsters, he's be dead soon enough."

Yusuke's long, blue hair shimmers with the firelight, his long lashes fanning across the elegant apples of his cheeks, where his long, sharp red nails tickle at his pale skin. His white ears twitch minutely atop his head.

Yusuke paints a beautiful picture as always, but Akira loves it most when his eyes crinkle and his plump lips widen in a smile that reveals his fangs.

He is about to reach out and play with one of Yusuke's small, loose braids when he notices the cute ears stand in alert and his pupils shrinking.

"It's him!"

A crash startled them onto their feet. An enormous monster with the appearance of a deformed and gruesome man-goat smashes through the trees.  
And then, a chariot flies above them in the sky, its flimsy curtains fly away and Yusuke sees-.

"Mother!!!" 

"Yusuke! Help me!"

It makes no sense. His mother has been long dead, but...

The woman is in chains, being tugged at by small demons while she cries.  
Monk Kurusu is busy fending-off the gigantic beast that have almost entirely destroyed that woods that had sheltered them. 

"Mother! I'm coming!"

From the corner of his eye, he catches sight of Madarame standing on the beast's shoulder.

"It's you! Sensei!" He growls, seething in anger.

Akira hears the exclamation and realizes the trap. "Madarame! You bastard!"

But it is too late. Yusuke reached his mother, but they are falling and Akira reaches for them.

Akira awakes in a grassy field facing a pond with a humble palace at the other side of it.

_**Yusuke!** _

He tries to stand to look for his friend, but his body feels numb and frozen over.  
Then, he sees them. 

"Mother. I-!"

She is a human, wearing a humble, red Yukata, but her hair and face.

_Just like Yusuke._

"My sweet boy. Oh, how much I've missed you! Look at how you've grown! How tall you are! And so handsome! Oh, my baby, I am sorry for leaving you so soon." She wraps her arms around Yusuke's neck, bringing him down to rest his head on her bossom and caress his hair while he weeps.

"Mother, I am sorry-!"

"Shush, dear. I should be the one apologizing. My sickness took me away from you prematurely. We didn't have enough time together to enjoy our company, for me to see you become a fine, young man. But this body, it's only temporary. It will rot away soon. Madarame did not bother to bring me back fully and merely sought to hurt you. Unless..."

Yusuke separates and begs her, "Unless?!"

"You would need to forge a pearl for me to stay alive."

Akira wanted to scream, but his body remained still. _So that is what Madarame is after! Please, Yusuke, don't believe her! **See through the lie!**_

Only at that moment does Monk Kurusu see the truth; the woman's face does not have a reflection in the pond's water and the scenery shifts between the perfect spring afternoon and a murky, dark pond riddled with demons.

Akira now knows how to break free. But as he starts working on freeing his body, Yusuke's head begins to sink in and through the woman's chest. 

"Please, Yusuke. Give me your spiritual energy, give me your soul, give me that pearl."

And as Yusuke is being drained, he loses control over himself. His long, white fox tail sprouts from his backbone, his claws grow longer where he struggles and his back legs start transforming into haunches.

Akira can finally scream, "Yusuke!" He throws his scepter like a lance, piercing through the faceless woman's head, who screams shrilly. Yusuke's head is freed and Akira can see his completely transformed head. 

The white, furry head with red patterns decorating his face and blue highlights between his ears would normally amaze Akira with its elegance. But Yusuke has gone feral. Yellow irises and enormous fangs moving wildly across the open air.

Akira has no choice.

"Yusuke!" 

He embraces the shifting monster, trying to stop its morphing and then lets his own energy seep into the hanyou.

He slowly calms down with the flow of Yin energy that battles out the Yang in him, regaining the equilibrium of his body.  
Once Yusuke normalizes, Akira lets them fall limply to the ground and the mirage of the palace in the spring slowly fades around them.

They are back in the destroyed forest where Madarame stands.

"You!" Akira growls angrily, "I will make myself coats with your hide, let your fur become blood-drenched, have your skin torn into strips so nothing of you remains!"

Not even Sojirou nor Yusuke knew how Akira Kurusu, the once honorable Shintoist monk, had made a deal with an evil demon once; even Morgana, the nekomata, had warned him against it.

The demon was darkness and fire

like perpetually burning coals ready to burst like lava.

"Come, do my bidding!"

...

Yusuke woke up with his old, blackened pearl resting on his chest while he lay down on top of Akira, who had his arms wrapped around his waist. 

He immediately became flustered before remembering...

_Mother?_

Akirs shifts under him and nuzzles at the side of his head. "Yusuke, you're awake. I got your pearl back." Yusuke's eyes widen. Akira had always been to kind to a hanyou like him.

"Akira," he gasps, "thank you."

"My pleasure." He smiles smugly. Maybe now he could finally fess up and settle down peacefully with Yusuke.

"Where is mother? Where is sen- Madarame?"

"Your mother was actually the spirit of the Woman of the Limbo. Madarame... I beat him. Don't worry about it."

Akira never got the courage to tell him the truth, that he murdered Madarame while letting his body be controlled by the demon that fed from his body like a leech.

_But I need this power to protect us. **To protect him.**_

"We will live a long life together," Yusuke told him one morning while they lazied naked in bed together. 

Akira felt his heart get bitten inside.

"Yeah. Long."


	2. Chapter 2

"Grandma Kuroda! What's wrong?!"

Yusuke and Akira had travelled back to the humble village near the Samegawa River, where a shrine one of the most important shrines dedicated to Inari was located. It was the very same where Akira had first heard the rumors of a Kitsune's abandoned estate, cursed with eternal rain, the place where Yusuke had been sealed.

Sadly, the head priestess was currently injured. "A witch came and stole the remains of the priestess who protected our village before me. She was a powerful woman. Monk Akira, Yusuke, please, retrieve her remains! Do not allow her to abuse the powers that are latent in the high priestess's bones!"

A villager approaches them with salves for Lady Kuroda and offers directions, "The witch headed northwest from here. Gods know what she's up to."

...

"Hi- Hifumi?"

"Yusuke."

When they arrived at the scene, the witch was dead and a bare woman stood among the chaos, staring impassively.

"Hifumi, what-?"

"She brought me back to steal Inari's pearl. But this body won't hold and my soul is vanishing. I need-."

She sprints forwards, attempting to attack Akira, who keeps her at bay with a protective talisman.

"Hmph," she smirks and backs off. "Yusuke, how did you come to befriend a demon that can use sacred tools?"

Yusuke looks quizically at her and Akira stiffens at her acute observation. Well, Grandma Kuroda did say she had been very powerful.

"He's no demon, he's a monk. And what is it to you?! We have no relations anymore! Not since you abandoned me to fate," he growls, exposing his sharp canines.

The priestess stares coldly at Akira. "Gullible as always, I see, my dear Yusuke. Such a pity that someone with so much potential lets himself go to waste by the façades of others."

"Like yours?"

They exchange glares.

"You called yourself my friend, yet never attempted to free me from my torment! You who had everything could not spare to save your subject, your friend! You indeed were an cold queen, Hifumi Togo! What use were your political and spiritual powers when you did nothing-?!"

"I died for you!"

Yusuke turns away. He will not allow the fake tears of a fake woman move his heart.

"I was not allowed to use my powers without the command of my mother, the Queen Dowager. They were kept sealed, only to be released by her hand when she pleased. But... Yes, I was mostly a coward, stayed silent, head bowed, only waiting for her to use me. It was only until, only until the news of Madarame reached me that I realized I _had_ to do something."

Akira sees the two cry, but does not let his guard down. _She can sense Arséne. I cannot let her out me to Yusuke._

"They told me the house was emptied, that you were dead, a katana thrust into your heart, and Madarame had fled to Kyoto. I- went after him. My rage took over me. But the seal, the powers... I was a normal human, a mere mortal facing the most powerful Kitsune at the time. My death was swift, but I hoped to find you in the afterlife."

She walks forward and presses against Yusuke's backs, wrapping her arms around him while Akira, namely the demon inside him, seethed in rage silently. _He's MINE. Release him, bitch!_

"I do not dare hope for your forgiveness, but know that I am happy to know that you're alive and that my cowardice did not cost you your life."

Akira interrupts, "Not cost his life?! Do you know how many years it has been since?! Fifty! Yusuke may have a longer than normal lifespan due to being half-demon, but that is still a long time! You didn't even think to check on his body and give him a proper burial?! You could have unsealed him way before and not died like an idiot!"

Hifumi blinks at him unamused, "Then, tell me, demon, how did you two meet?"


	3. Chapter 3

"I'll teach him! Balance and power, hah! We don't need those huge monsters terrorizing our lands! They are ALL evil and I will get rid of every single one of them, just wait and see, Sojirou!"

His sensei had tried to convince him that some supernatural creatures were needed in this world. Well, Akira called bullshit on that. Didn't he remember how his village had submitted to beasts? How humans would prioritize those monsters out of fear for their own lives?!

No, absolutely not! They did not deserve mercy or fair judgement! Demons and monsters are just that, nothing else. He would not spare them.

"Greetings, child. I see you are in need of shelter."

An old woman dressed in traditional, sacred garbs approached the tree where he had hid himself in. It was far from comfortable, but he'd been through way worse.

"I'm good, grandma."

"But you are out here all by your lonesome. You are toi young to venture out like this. Where are your parents?"

He turned around on the branch he lay on, giving his back to her before replying curtly, "Dead".

"Oh, my. Come down, now. I prepared some miso and fried fish."

He could hear her receding footsteps. Once they were close to fading completely, he let his pride go, let his body fall to run after her.

...

"That talisman could use some more strokes. It's too weak." Akira chewed messily while he eyed his surroundings curiously. Lady Kuroda merely laughed in delight, "My, my. So you indeed are a very knowledgeable disciple. I wonder which monk took you as an apprentice."

Akira was witty and chose not to give away too much information. "What do you worship in this temple?" _He_ needed information, instead.

"Ah, we follow Lord Inari's teachings. One summer, we were blessed by an onslaught of good deeds performed by him. From small things like returning lost things to mending broken families, Lord Inari brought joy to our village and protected us all. That was when I decided to create a shrine so we could offer gifts of thanks. And through the years, he kept assisting us ocassionally, but I heard he had fallen in love with a human and focused a lot of his attention to his attempts at courting her. I didn't hear anything else after, but this area had remained untouched by war. I believe he still looks over us. That is why, we are friendly towards kitsune and welcome them with open arms."

That caught Akira's attention, "So, are there any kitsune in or near the village?"

Lady Kuroda sighed, her frame shrinking with sadness, "There was an old artist kitsune who took in a young, orphaned hanyou pup living in the outskirts. 50 years ago, the artist fled in a panic to find shelter in Kyoto. That's all we'd been told. But since we saw no boy accompanying him, we went to search their estate. The boy lay dead, with a katana piercing through his heart, but we could not rescue the body. It was surrounded by a strong barrier. ...Perhaps you could help us with that."

Akira jumped in attention. "Listen, boy, the estate has been cursed with constant rains ever since. I do not know the state of the land after so many decades. Perhaps there is nothing left. But if you do find the house and the boy, please, bring him back so his soul may rest. We will give him a proper burial and pray for Inari to lead him to his next life."

...

It was near dawn when Akira headed out into the woods. Just like Grandma Kuroda said, as soon as he was close enough, rain suddenly started pouring.

What was once a great estate was now worn down, gray walls and a rotting, unstable wooden shack that creaked under the raindrops. The door was stuck and he was forced to bresk it down with his staff. He searched the first floor, which was swamped with puddles of mud and toads, cobwebs, and scurrying rats. While going up the steps, several fell under his feet at the lightest touch and made him jump wildly upwards. There were several small rooms on the second floor, but the smallest one with no windows (he would've thought it was a storage room if not for the worn straw mats and small pillow that littered almost the entirety of the floor), that was where he found him.

The kitsune boy was breathtakingly beautiful, with pointy ears, long navy blue tresses framing a slender face, long feminine lashes and claws, and an elegant neck. He wears blue and white robes, no shoes. No patch of blood blooms from the place where a sword cuts through the boy's chest. 

"It looks as if he was just napping. So peaceful."

Akira reaches out and tucks the long strands of hair behind the boy's shoulders and grips the katana's hilt. "Wake up."

He pulls the sword out.

Light gray eyes stare back at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me @ContrastMinds on Twitter for Shukita retweets and ideas and Inuyasha content, too.


End file.
